Elliott's Balloon Birthday

Elliott's birthday usually falls when we're away from home at convention.  This year, his sixth birthday fell on a Saturday and we were planning to be home.  An actual party was possible!  (He was worried it wouldn't be an official birthday if we weren't out at Aunt Sally's, where he's been for the last couple of years.)  The only birthday parties Elliott has ever been to are his cousins' parties, so he didn't have a lot of pre-conceived notions here.  The one thing he did mention in passing was that he wanted lots of balloons at his birthday.  That was a party I could handle!

Thankfully, the Cotten kids and Bethaney could come a few days.  Cheyenne read them all a book Friday morning.

Friday afternoon, Evan brought the rented helium tank home.  We had literally hundreds of balloons from the job Evan had cleaning out a closing Blockbuster store, so Evan went to town, filling balloons!  (Orianna and Cheyenne are a little afraid he'll pop one in this picture!)

Lincoln likes balloons!

There was some interesting shapes in those bags!

This is a kid's dream come true-- and it wasn't even his birthday yet!

That is quite the fistful of balloons.

While Evan kept the kids entertained with his mad balloon-filling skillz, Bethaney and I played UpWords.  Except Bethaney took so. stinking. long. every turn, I started folding laundry on the end of the table to pass the time while waiting for her.

Evan found some long balloons in the mixed bags of balloons, and it revived his old interest in making balloon animals.  He needed the air compressor for those, so the pre-party moved outdoors.

Cheyenne with her blue swan.

Rilla with her animals.  (A dog and a horse?  Some of these require a bit of a mental stretch.)

The Sword was a favorite shape for all the kids.

Waiting, sometimes patiently, for Evan to make another one.

The master at work.

The Society of Pink-Sworded Beauties.

Gilbert, falling in love with the Cozy Coupe like every other boy.

Sidewalk chalk!

The kids pretended these flat stones were flags and spent hours decorating them.

The kids use the chalk constantly, so I actually sprung for a whole new set for this weekend.  It's on sale right now!

Then, the official birthday!  I think this was the first year Elliott understood completely the power of birthdays, and enjoyed every second of the day.  Unfortunately, he's in the Fake Smile Phase of childhood, but he's still cute.  I'm taking this picture because my bright idea of stacking 2 13x9 cakes is backfiring, and the cake was splitting before we ever sat down to lunch.  So I posed Elliott with it before it completely disintegrated.

Lots more balloons that day, including the trick-sy double balloon on the back of his chair.  And isn't Bethaney impressive, making the "6" with sprinkles?

Presents-- adorned with a balloon animal, of course.

Opening a gift from the Smiths.

Lots of people to watch this!  I love his hands-over-the-mouth surprise stance.  (And the braids Bethaney did in the girls' hair.)

The gift Evan picked out for him-- a car garage that has already been heavily used!

The Vaughan's present-- Elliott said, "Suh-WEET!" when he saw it!  There were pretty cool presents all 'round.  It's useful having an aunt who knows how to get the best deals on toys online!

Singing "Happy Birthday!"

Then, we had to sing to Dave, who shares Elliott's birthday, and Elliott did a little dance to accompany that song.

Later on, we left the cake unguarded for a minute.  Gilbert took advantage of this!

The Cottens left around 4:00 to go home and be reunited with Poor Hard-Working Justin, who had worked all day Saturday, and, despite the late hour, we all fell into bed for naps!  It's wearing work having this kind of high-pressure party!

Cheyenne received balloon-twisting lessons that evening, and this is her with her first dog!

Lincoln tried on Elliott's sunglasses this morning.  He was even funnier before I got the camera out-- he was sitting there with a serious face and those glasses, looking like a pint-size Secret Service dude!

All in all, we had a great weekend.  Elliott's birthdays are always special to me because we weren't sure if we'd ever reach his first birthday when he was born.  So thankful for our bouncy six-year old!